Tesco is still the nation’s top stop for shoppers who want to charge their EVs, according to the latest Electrifying.com research.
An Electrifying.com survey of 3,500 drivers said the most popular place to charge away from home is at the supermarket, with 37% of those surveyed giving this their vote.
Tesco now has 2,553 charging bays across its 619 stores nationwide, making it the country’s largest retail EV charging network. Tesco says chargers at its stores can now be found within a 10-minute drive for over 70% of the UK population. Most Tesco sites have a mix of 7kW, 22kW, 50kW and 75kW charging stations. Prices vary from 44p/kWh for the 7kW fast chargers to 69p/kWh for the 75kW rapids. The network is run by Podpoint.
Electrifying.com found that for those wanting a rapid charge, Sainsbury’s is better thanks to its wholly-owned ultra-rapid network, Smart Charge.
After installing just 53 units in 2022, the retailer now has almost 450 ultra-rapid (150kW-300kW) charging bays across 54 stores – and new charging hubs are being added to the Smart Charge network every month. This means it now has more ultra-rapid charging bays than any other UK supermarket.
It has promised there will be over 750 ultra-rapid charging bays rolled out across more than 100 stores by the end of 2024, putting Sainsbury’s in the top five providers of ultra-rapid charging in the UK.
The bays are open 24 hours a day, and almost all locations have at least six slots available, with large hubs offering as many as 18. The price is a flat rate of 75p/kWh and Nectar card holders can get three Nectar points for every £1 spent on charging.
Morrisons has remained static with 413 devices at 69% of its 497 stores, 99% of which have rapid devices. However, MFG’s purchase of 337 Morrisons petrol stations will see more ultra-rapid charging hubs added to sites.
Lidl has 370 chargers at nearly a third of its 960 stores, with 300 of them offering rapid charging facilities. The company is transitioning them from the Pod Point App to the Lidl Plus app, which will mean payment is controlled by Lidl rather than a charge provider. Paying through the app brings the price down to 62p/kWh for rapid DC charging and 40p for AC points.
Electryfing.com found that Aldi is lagging behind, offering EV chargepoints at around 18% of its stores across the UK, with 610 individual chargepoints. Some of these were recently fitted as part of a deal with Shell Recharge,.
However, Electrifying.com gave Asda the ‘booby prize’ because it has deactivated the majority of its charging points after its contract with BP Pulse came to an end. This followed the acquisition of the chain by the EG Group.
